Posts tagged ‘community policing’

A neighborhood watch group in West Valley City, Utah, was recently profiled in the local news. Through emails and Facebook, this neighborhood watch is able to stay informed and keep themselves safe. Check out the video below.

According to ScanSafe, 20% of employers are now blocking social networking sites on their company internet. Granted, employers feel that Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and others social media websites can be horrible time wasters; however, they can also be great informational tools, especially if you follow your local government or law enforcement agency through them.

As more law enforcement agencies begin to use social media for critical information, these sites gain a legitimacy that they have not had in the past. Social media information is changing from “I’m eating a ham sandwich” to “Recent string of burglaries in Maplewood: make sure to lock your doors and windows.”

And as these sites begin to be more important sources of real-time information, employers could find themselves at the wrong end of a backlash from citizens and law enforcement who want to give and have access to vital information. For example, besides giving safety reminders, many police agencies will send out traffic information that gives citizens an idea of where accidents have been, so they can avoid them on the drive home. As well, some agencies have sent information through social media about school closings, city emergencies, and other important events that citizens need to know about as soon as possible.

Blocking access to this information could be an increasing concern for employers as more and more people and law enforcement agencies begin to communicate through social media and share legitimately important information.

Yesterday we just passed 500 fans on Facebook. We’ve only had the Facebook page up for a about 8 weeks, so we’re overjoyed that so many people are enthusiastic about their local crime prevention efforts and are using CrimeReports.com.

We want to thank every one of our law enforcement partners across the US and Canada and all the fans that have made our website the #1 crime-mapping website in the world.

Keep up your continued efforts to spread the word about CrimeReports.com, neighborhood watch efforts, and effective law enforcement/citizen communication and partnerships. And, as always, keep coming back here for more information on crime prevention, community involvement, and neighborhood watch.

Retailers in Los Gatos, California, are organizing their efforts to combat an increase in shoplifting, theft, and check fraud. Local retailers are working with police and the city council to organize forums to gather and discuss the issue and solutions. In the mean time, retailers and police are opening lines of communication by creating phone trees and relaying crime reports as quickly as possible.

Just another great example of the ways that police and citizens can work together to combat and reduce crime in their community.

iKeepSafe, a site dedicated to keeping children safe online and promoting online ethics through education, recently posted an article on the need for an cyber neighborhood watch. The basic idea is that in a neighborhood watch, members of the community look out for one another and notify the police when they see suspicious activity. As well, students at school can be bystanders to bullying or abuse, and they can report the behavior to parents and teachers; however, no such bystander community exists online. That is, when people see questionable content posted online in a blog or on a social media profile, they just ignore it, and don’t direct police to the site.

For example, George Sodini, the shooter in the recent gym attack, posted disturbing messages and rants on his blog for the last nine months. He even alluded to a project he was working on that involved loaded guns. Perhaps, if police had been alerted to the content on Sodini’s blog sooner, this tragedy may have been averted. Of course, alerting police to violent rants on a blog may not prevent a criminal from carrying out his or her plans (and clearly, a person must commit a crime in order to be arrested for anything), but if police knew ahead of time, they may have been able to talk to the person or confront him or her before an attack could be carried out.

iKeepSafe advocates an increased public awareness online and a willingness of more people to watch out for one another by having a cyber neighborhood watch mentality while online, reporting suspicious activity when confronted with it.

In Jackson, Mississippi, criminals are increasingly targeting local apartment complexes. To fight this growing threat, police have joined with local apartment managers to create a coalition of apartment managers who will meet once a month to discuss suspicious activity and crime prevention strategies.

Chief Lewis believes that a strong neighborhood watch program in the subdivisions has pushed criminals toward apartment complexes where such programs are not as strong. He told apartment managers at the first meetoing of the coalition, “In order for us to have a decrease in crime on your properties, we need you to help us.”

Over the past week or so, there have been a handful of stories about communities that are getting involved with civilian crime watch programs. Some are initiated by the police department—providing increased education about crime prevention and creating new neighborhood watch-type programs, and other are initiated by citizens banding together to take responsibility for their own homes and neighborhoods.

A few of the communities in the news:Gig Harbor, Washington, is providing more education on citizen crime prevention and block watch programs for citizens.Urbandale, Iowa, is responding to a rash of recent break-ins and burglaries by creating a new Community Crime Eye program.Harrisburg, Georgia, are signing a petition to increase their vigilance and decrease crime in their city.

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The views expressed in this blog are those of the individual contributing bloggers and may not necessarily reflect the official or actual opinions of CrimeReports, its parent company Public Engines, or any of its employees.